After another round of winter weather, the Park Hill School District has added the option of late starts to the school day.
If school is not canceled for the day, the district can now call for a two-hour delayed start. With the new policy, school will start two hours after the normal time at every school, and morning bus pick-up times will be two hours after the normal pick-up times. School will end at its normal time, and afternoon bus drop-off times will be the same as usual.
Parents may call the school for an excused absence if they believe conditions are poor enough to pose a safety hazard for their children.
Staff members will be required to come to school at their regular times and each school may set some variation to its usual schedule on late start days. Early drop-off will not be available for morning professional studies programs, including transportation for Northland Career Center and Northland CAPS students. Lunch will still be served at school.
At the district board of education meeting last week, members heard a presentation on a grant application to be submitted to Platte County Parks and Recreation for the 2020 Outreach grant program. Funded through the half-cent park, recreation and stormwater sales tax, which expires at the end of the year, the program assists cities, schools and organizations to leverage county funding for local projects. The board is expected to vote on the application submission later this month.
Park Hill plans to request $25,000 to support improvements to the Kansas City Parks and Recreation tennis courts located at Barry Road Park. The district has contracted with the city for exclusive use of the courts to support Park Hill High School’s tennis programs.
Matching contributions will come from the Park Hill School District in excess of the $25,000. An application has also been made to the Kansas City Public Improvements Advisory Committee (PIAC) for funds to support improvements. The estimated cost of the improvements is $700,000.
Also at the meeting last week, a proposal to launch a junior high football cooperative program, bringing competitive football to the district’s middle schools, sparked dissension among members of the board. However, despite the distension the program was approved.
The new middle school football program is scheduled to start in fall 2020 and to grow the program the district sought to combine Congress and Plaza middle schools to form the Park Hill Junior Football team and Lakeview and Walden middle schools would become the Park Hill South Junior team. After the completion of the football season, coaches and administrators would evaluate the program to see if there is enough interest to create teams for each middle school.
Susan Newburger and Todd Fane voted against approval of this cooperative program, with Fane suggesting the discussion be delayed to another meeting until further information could be obtained about the possible program. The vote was again split, with three board members voting against a delay and Scott Monsees abstaining. Newburger and Fane again bucked the majority by voting to delay the discussion.
In other district news, a smart phone app for the Park Hill School District is available in Apple’s App Store or Google Play. Subscribers will receive text alerts and links to menus, calendars, the parent portal and more.
The district has also launched an online survey on communication, to determine how families wish to be notified of district news. The survey is available at parkhilllistens.com.